Dangerous high-speed police chase in San Francisco ends on Bay Bridge

SAN FRANCISCO – A man suspected of stealing a San Francisco police car led authorities on a dangerous chase across city streets onto Treasure Island, and was arrested on the Bay Bridge Saturday by an officer who jumped from the upper to the lower deck to catch him.

The pursuit around 8:15 a.m. when officers approached a man suspected of carrying a knife in the Marina district, police said in a statement.

He ran away and managed to take off in their patrol car.

Police said the suspect got into several hit-and-run collisions as he sped through city streets. The chase led to Treasure Island, where officers tried to block the entrance to the artificial island from the Bay Bridge, but the suspect drove around the barricades. Two officers fired shots at the patrol car after the suspect accelerated onto the sidewalk.

No one was struck by the officers' gunfire.

The suspect returned to the bridge, where he abandoned the vehicle getting into another wreck. He jumped from the upper to the lower deck and tried to carjack another vehicle before he was stopped by an officer.

The officer leaped 30 to 40 feet down to the lower level to catch the suspect, police said.

That officer and another officer who tried to stop the suspect from stealing the patrol car were taken to the hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries, police said.

The suspect, whose name has not been released, and a motorist were also taken to the hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.

The incident shut down two ramps leading to and from Treasure Island and a lane of Interstate 80, clogging traffic on the Bay Bridge linking Oakland and San Francisco.